City of Reno Votes on Drought Response Plan

The Reno City Council is taking action against our ongoing drought. On Wednesday, they approved plans to implement three levels of action for drought response.

"What we're considering is setting in place of a system of say, a drought watch, a drought warning, and a drought emergency. So we have some sort of graduated way to communicate what it is we're doing about the drought,” says David Bobzien, Reno City Council Member At Large.

In a drought watch, the City would recommend efforts like only serving water in restaurants when asked or reducing irrigation schedules.

The next step up, a drought warning would include recommendations like xeriscape and requirements for high efficiency toilets or showerhead rebates.

And in a drought emergency, the City would take even more restrictive actions like issuing fines to residents for wasting water.

But the City says these are all just precautions....and there's already things being done to save water.

"Increase savings of our own water as a government, whether it’s the water in fields or parks or other parts of Reno government, it's what we're asking of our citizens, asking them to conserve more. They have already done a lot."

The City Council hopes to have their drought response plan fully adopted by this October.

The Nevada Drought Forum will hold its next public meeting on Wednesday, August 19 at 9 a.m. at the Nevada Department of Agriculture office, located at 405 South 21st Street in Sparks.